1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to an integrated method and system for dispensing and blending/mixing beverage flavor/ingredients, thereby producing a beverage, e.g., a smoothie. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a system and method for storing the flavor/ingredients, and dispensing the same. The present disclosure also relates to a system and method for cleaning the flavor/ingredient dispensing system in place.
2. Description of Related Art
Multiple steps are involved in creating a beverage or drink, for example, a smoothie drink, from beginning to end, and potential issues can occur at all stages. After ice is added to a blender pot for mixing the beverage, juice and any additional fruit or flavor “mix-in” is added by an operator as well. A size of cup is chosen, and the drink is poured. This last step presents the largest chance for waste. Since the employee must portion the ingredients by hand, any overspill of the drink is left in the blender pot. At each step during this manual process, portion control is compromised, and money is potentially wasted on excess ingredients.
Once the order is complete and the customer has his or her drink, there is one last step to finalize the process—the method of manually cleaning the flavor/ingredient dispensing system, to prevent the transfer of flavors and germs. Depending on where the dispensing system is located within or in relation to the beverage machine, the dispensing system may be very difficult and inconvenient to clean, which adds significantly to the time and labor required for maintenance. Also, flavor contamination can be a serious threat if customers have food allergies.
Each step in this process to create a smoothie takes time, typically four to five minutes, and that time could be better spent serving customers or taking more food and beverage orders, directly contributing to the bottom line.
Although premium beverages such as smoothies are growing in popularity, most quick-service restaurants (QSRs) are unable to offer customers these options due to the time limitations of the quick-serve world. Those QSR owners that do opt to serve smoothies are confronted with a common set of challenges—mainly how to sell the same franchised drink time after time with existing labor and equipment limitations.
Accordingly, it has been determined by the present disclosure, there is a need for an assembly that dispenses and mixes beverage flavors/ingredients with ice in one integrated system, and thereafter can be cleaned in place, for immediate reuse without subsequent flavor contamination.
An additional problem regarding beverage dispensing systems is that they tend to result in dripping and formation of errant streams once the ingredient dispensing pumps cease dispensing the measured quantity of ingredients in to the vessel or cup. Conventional beverage dispensing systems typically result in maintenance and clean-up problems after each use. That is conventional syrup or ingredient pumps 3001, as shown in FIG. 26, result in the emission of errant streams or drippings post-dispensing to LMS valve 3003. That is, pump 3001 tends to discharge additional ingredients once the desired amount of ingredients have been dispensed into the vessel or cup, not shown. This additional ingredient discharge is a result of excess ingredients remaining in pump 3001 once the solenoid assembly 3005 is no longer energized, wherein the excess ingredients are discharged via residual pressure from pump 3001 to LMS valve 3003 resulting in either excess ingredients being dispensed into a beverage vessel altering taste of the resultant beverage or excess ingredients being discharged on to the beverage platform if the vessel has been removed therefrom resulting in a cleaning problem for the operator. In addition, compressible fluids are pressurized during pumping and when the pressure is removed the fluid will continue to discharge from the LMS valve 3003 until pressure in the system is equalized. This equalization causes fluid to drip or spray in a diminishing pattern while the pressure reduces to normal. In particular, currently there is not an existing reliable method for stopping a fluid system from dripping from a valve, for example, LMS valve 3003, given a compressible flow or a fluid containing contaminants or solid particles.
The present disclosure overcomes the issues related to discharge of excess ingredients by incorporation of a novel expansion valve between the syrup or ingredient pump and the LMS valve.